Recognition of Refugee
&
Other Non-Verifiable
Credentials
NAFSA Region X: Lake Placid, NY
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
2:00-3:30pm
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Amy M. Ullrich Evaluator
Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.
Yu-Wan Wang Associate Dean, International Admissions
Stony Brook University, SUNY
Jody Lehr Waite Founder/Director
Why Wait: International Higher Education Solutions
Session Objectives 3
• Define the problem, the populations & documentation
• Offer best practices for development of a university
process for admission of persons with unofficial or non-
verifiable credentials
• Discuss research & various initiatives that are currently
in process
Refugees & Displaced People by
Numbers
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• 65.3 million people are refugees, asylum seekers or
displaced persons
– That means every 1 in 113 people on the planet!
– Of those 65.3 million, 12.4 million of them were newly
displaced in 2015
• 60%+ of refugees have come from:
– Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and South Sudan (just hit 1m this
month)
• 50% of all refugees are children under 18
UNHCR report on Refugees June 2016: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36573082
Refugees & Displaced People in
Pictures
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http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/world/gallery/europes-refugee-crisis http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36573082 Associated Foreign Press (AFP)
Top Hosting/Receiving Regions &
Countries
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http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.htm
Terminology
Refugee Status Determination(RSD)
Refugee
Asylum Seeker/Asylee
Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
Special Immigration Visa (SIV)
UVD (Unverifiable Document)
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Students’ Documentation Challenges
Interrupted periods of education
Unable to provide official
proof of educational
achievements
May only have unofficial
documentation
May have attended
unrecognized refugee camp
schools
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Unavailable or Unverifiable?
Undocumented:
• Lack of proper legal status and documentation
Unavailable:
• Not in the student’s possession; no documents presented
Unverifiable:
• Documents presented, but of poor quality; institution can not be contacted
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Why are the documents unverifiable?
Institution has closed or is no
longer operating
Institution is located in an
area of conflict
Contacting an institution for
verification puts a student
at risk
Student has limited/no documents available for
previous education
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Determining Documentation
Authenticity
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• Compare original documents with those in your institution’s archives (if you don’t have an archive yet, PLEASE START ONE :), compare signatures of the time period, seals/stamps, security features
• Redact the student’s personal information and post with questions on ECE’s TheConnection (https://theconnection.ece.org/) if you are unfamiliar with the country/institution’s documentation format
• Send for verification to institution’s administrative staff and specific faculty
• Use Online Verification resources
– Lists of Graduates
– Results Online
– National Databases
– Institutional Databases
List of Graduates - Example 12
University of Baghdad – Medicine
2013-14 results sample
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NAME Grade Average
Final Date of Passing
What do you do when…?
A country currently has multiple governments issuing documents? (Syria, Ukraine/Crimea, etc.)
Students are completing non-traditional programs in refugee camps/training centers?
A student only supplies partial documentation?
A reliable method of verification suddenly stops?
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Syrian Refugee Documents:
Etilaf Issued Certificates
http://en.etilaf.org/coalition-units/coalition-offices/office-of-the-national-higher-commission-for-learning-and-higher-education.html
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Etilaf Certificate: Science Track 16
Etilaf Certificate: Science Track
(Translation)
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Results Online – Syrian Example
http://moed.gov.sy/cresults2015/scientific/index.php
Literary Science
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Official
Transcript
provided
with credit
hours and
marks
earned
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Refugee Camp
Documents
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Educational Certificate 22
English document 23
Incomplete Iraqi
Transcript
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Developing Alternative Methods for Verification
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Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington
D.C.
http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/page/consulate-services-department
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What do you do at your institution?
Do policies already exist?
• Are they formal or informal (i.e. case-by-case basis)
What do you do with insufficient documentation?
• Make exceptions?
• Cancel the process?
What resources do you have available?
• Online databases
• EducationUSA
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• Create an institutional definition for what a “refugee
student” entails
• Students may be passport holders, green card holders, F-1, J-1, or other
• This definition will dictate admissions policies, but should also be mindful that
there may be refugee students that are admitted “under the radar”
• Admissions offices should be able to accommodate
ambiguity or missing documents
• Universities should be prepared to offer accommodations including placement
tests on campus to determine level
• Working with evaluation services where appropriate, being willing to waive or absorb fees
• Using community college or college prep network where applicable/necessary
• Best practice has demonstrated that students succeed
when they are admitted in a cohort with their peers
• Institutions identify which programs or areas are strengths or have required
support networks
• Ex: for a large research university, deciding whether to invest in refugee students at the bachelors, MA, MS, or PhD level
• Communicate to stakeholder offices across campus as
issues may arise that are unique to these students
• Student billing, registrar, advising, orientation, housing, counseling
• Issues include inter-session housing, outstanding bills affecting registration, etc.
Success Stories:
Martha & Rev. Waitstill Sharp: recipients of the “Righteous Among Nations” title
(The refugees included Nobel laureate physicist Otto Meyerhof and writers
Heinrich Mann (brother of Thomas), Franz Werfel (''The Song of Bernadette"), and Lion Feuchtwanger (''Proud Destiny").
Dr. Kenneth Senft, a Lutheran pastor, answered the call to assist displaced
children during WWII. Many of these children went on to higher education in the United States.
Refugee Crisis: Life in Exile
• 80.000 Tibetans were exiled to India • Since the exile, several talks have occurred between Chinese representatives
and Tibetans, but no meaningful agreement has been made • On March 10th, 1959 Tibetans took to the streets in Lhasa, the capital, rising up
against China’s invasion of their homeland. This day is now referred to as Tibetan National Uprising Day.
• Tibetan National Uprising Day has been marked by self-immolation of monks and nuns in the years following 1959.
Education • His holiness has worked to provide education to young Tibetans
• Schools have been established with assistance from the government of India
• Tibetan educational philosophy is that teachers should not only train the mind, but also the spirit and body to have a correct attitude for education
• The Central Tibetan Schools Administration currently has 71 schools with an enrollment of 10,000 students
• There are 8 branches of Tibetan Children’s Village School with a total of approx. 8,000 enrolled students
Many children go without desks and school supplies
What’s working in other countries?
• Standardized procedure called UVD
NOKUT (Norwegian ENIC-NARIC):
• Standard credential evaluation or indication of educational level
Dutch EP-NUFFIC:
• Background paper & alternative pathways for refugees
CIEP (French ENIC-NARIC):
• Background paper
CIMEA (Italian ENIC-NARIC):
• Fact Sheets for countries in crisis
Danish Agency for Higher Education:
• Background paper or educational portfolio
UK & Swedish ENIC-NARIC:
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What ECE is doing
Reviewed literature
Surveyed HEI’s
Surveyed Resettlement
Agencies
Developed a pilot program with a select
agency
Launched ECEAid in
August
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Survey Results
Audience: Higher educational institutions (HEIs)
Date Created: December 21, 2015
Total responses: 61
Audience: Refugee resettlement agencies
Date Created: January 29, 2016
Total responses: 22
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Do you receive applications from
refugees?
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On average, what is the highest level
of schooling you see from refugees?
HEIs
RESETTLEMENT AGENCIES
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What type of documents are
presented for previous education?
HEI’S RESETTLEMENT AGENCIES
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Does your school have a policy for
students lacking access to their
educational documents?
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The Policies Student must put in writing
their attempts to obtain their documents and the
committee must determine if the transcript can be
waived.
Largely been only a handful of students in the past 10 years; it is not anything
formal yet. We are planning to create a formal policy.
We will review each case individually to determine how to proceed forward.
If the student is not able to obtain an official transcript,
we require a 3rd party evaluation.
We administer an entrance examination if needed.
Case-by-case basis depending on what level of study, the country they are from, and the amount of access they
have to documents or services in their home
country.
The students is considered through a special admission process. May be required to
take a placement test to determine academic
placement in courses.
This is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, depending on
the circumstances of the student and country.
Each situation is different, so it depends; we try to
assist applicant by explaining what’s needed,
what’s missing & what alternatives exist.
We generally waive the requirement for
authentication through WES or other service.
We’ll accept photocopies if we have confirmation from our resources that it is not
possible for the applicants to obtain official transcripts from
their former institution.
On a case-by-case basis. Students work with
admission staff to see what they have access too or what other options are
available
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The Challenges 47
ECE®Aid
A charitable program that provides fee waivers for evaluation reports for vulnerable populations, such as refugees
ECE partners with experienced, trusted agencies and institutions
Those third parties are responsible for selecting the recipients based on need and criteria
ECE does not provide complimentary reports directly to individuals
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Additional Initiatives 50
Alternative Options
Granting students provisional admission, based on their performance in an ESL course
Assisting students with obtaining federal student loans and grants
Increasing online course options to incorporate refugee populations
World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Student’s Refugee Program (SRP) fee program
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Resources
• German scholarship program: http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/4/5702722a6/german-funded-scholarships-give-young-refugees-hope-education.html
• Norway’s new refugee “credential passport”: http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2016/09/norway-develops-qualifications-passport-for-refugees/?utm_content=buffer2f373&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
• South Sudanese refugees pass 1 million mark: http://www.unhcr.org/en-
us/news/latest/2016/9/57dbe2d94/refugees-fleeing-south-sudan-pass-million-mark.html
• Supporting refugees to access higher education: http://www.resettlement.eu/page/supporting-refugees-access-higher-education
• The Refugee Crisis and Higher Education (2015): https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/25/syrian-refugee-crisis-and-higher-education
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Additional Reading:
ENIC-NARIC
http://www.enic-naric.net/recognise-qualifications-held-by-refugees.aspx
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Questions?
Presentation is available at https://ece.org/presentations
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